What Are People Doing At TPC River Highlands? Trying To Replicate Spieth's Shot

John Woike / Hartford Courant

Cromwell, CT 06/25/17 Jordan Spieth celebrates after he holed his bunker shot on the 18th green for a birdie and win over Daniel Berger during the final round of the 2017 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell Sunday. Spieth and Berger were in a playoff after they both finished regulation at -12, Berger didn't make his birdie attempt to keep the playoff going. Spieth is the first wire to wire winner since Tim Norris in 1982 at Wethersfield Country Club. Photo by John Woike | jwoike@courant.com

Cromwell, CT 06/25/17 Jordan Spieth celebrates after he holed his bunker shot on the 18th green for a birdie and win over Daniel Berger during the final round of the 2017 Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell Sunday. Spieth and Berger were in a playoff after they both finished regulation at -12, Berger didn't make his birdie attempt to keep the playoff going. Spieth is the first wire to wire winner since Tim Norris in 1982 at Wethersfield Country Club. Photo by John Woike | jwoike@courant.com (John Woike / Hartford Courant)

Two days after the conclusion of the Travelers Championship, TPC River Highlands in Cromwell reopened with the tournament final pin placements.

So, of course, many of the members and their guests either hit from or dropped a few balls in the front greenside bunker at No. 18 to see if they could duplicate Jordan Spieth's spectacular, birdie hole-out in the playoff.

"For one day we kept the Sunday pins for our members," TPC River Highlands general manager David Corrado said Thursday. "Some putted where Daniel Berger was in the playoff, to see if they could make that birdie. As far as Jordan goes some got close from the bunker, but as far as I know no one did what Jordan did. The buzz about him and the tournament continues around here."

Corrado said the course is in outstanding condition: "The fairways, tee boxes and greens came through the tournament as well as I've seen."

That's noteworthy because the crowd for tournament week was estimated to be around 290,000. "Inside the ropes where the competition was is in excellent shape," Corrado said. "The locations of the tents, bleachers and temporary structures are where some work needs to be done to repair or replace some turf. But those are outside the playing areas."

Corrado said the rough has been cut back in stages from 3 ½ to 2 ½ inches for the members. The speed of the greens is about 10 ½ on the Stimpmeter. They ran faster, at about 12, for the Travelers Championship.

Corrado praised the work before, during and after the tournament of the course maintenance crew, led by superintendent Jeff Reich, senior assistant superintendent Noel Hall and assistant superintendent Jason Cannata.

"They and the crew knocked it out of the park," Corrado said. "This course could hold a PGA Tour event next week if we had to."

Spieth: A Fan Favorite

Walking down the hill from the scorer's trailer with Berger after the regulation 72 holes, Spieth was focused before the first and only hole of the Travelers Championship playoff.

Nevertheless, before being taken by a golf cart along with caddie Michael Greller to the 18th tee, Spieth slapped hands with some fans, packed along the ropes, on his way down the hill.

Such a gesture was not surprising. It was consistent with the man. Far away from the glittering lights of the final round and playoff on national television, he signed every request at the Kid Autograph zone at the practice facility on Tuesday. That didn't change through the week in his first Travelers Championship.

We remember after Spieth holed out from the bunker when Berger said, "I mean it's just Jordan doing Jordan things."

So it was no surprise to find Spieth was ranked No. 1 in Golf Digest's latest "Good Guys" survey in its July 17th issue. One of the graded criteria was "being nice when no one is looking."

As for Spieth's golf game, he's not playing in the Greenbrier Classic this week and announced Monday he'll skip the John Deere Classic next week. He'll compete for the first time since the Travelers Championship at the British Open July 20-23 at Royal Birkdale GC in Southport, England.

Exemption For Whaley

Suzy Whaley, the first woman ever to serve as an officer of the PGA of America, has received a sponsor exemption to participate in the upcoming Senior LPGA Championship.

Whaley will join the 81-player field, which includes five World Golf Hall of Fame members – Laura Davies, Patty Sheehan, Hollis Stacy, Betsy King and Pat Bradley – along with an additional 19 LPGA Tour major champions.

"This Championship celebrates many legends of the game and the contributions that they have made to the future of women's golf worldwide," Whaley said.

Before joining the PGA board, Whaley worked as one of the country's top instructors learning under teaching legend Jim Flick, and was the head pro at Blue Fox Run in Avon, in 2002. From 2004-06, she also worked as an LPGA golf commentator for ESPN.

In 2003, Whaley made history at the Greater Hartford Open, becoming the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event. This occurred after Whaley became the first PGA of America woman professional to win the Connecticut PGA Section Championship.

NE Women's Amateur

The New England Women's Amateur returns to Connecticut next week for the first time since 2011. Hop Meadow CC in Simsbury is the site for the 54-hole stroke play event Monday through Wednesday. Shuttle Meadow CC in Berlin was the site in 2011.

Hop Meadow CC will be prepared for the tournament, as its men's and women's club championships are scheduled to conclude Sunday. "We're honored, excited and looking forward to the New England Women's Amateur," Hop Meadow CC director of golf Joe Cordani Jr. said.

The reigning champion is Katie Barrand of Beverly, Mass, who's in the field which will play on the par-73, 5,749-yard course.

Lisa Fern-Boros of Highland GC in Shelton enters the tournament after winning her first CWGA championship on June 22.

"My mantra was to play my game," she said. "The par-5 12th had been my nemesis, as I had a 9 there in the qualifier. After that I laid up with my second shot, an iron, to stay away from the water."

She fared well in the mentally and physically demanding event, which included four matches, totaling 87 holes, in three consecutive days.

Fern-Boros also has two other significant trophies: the SNEWGA championship that she won last July and the CWGA Seniors championship that she won in August. ... Andrew Franz of Eclub of Connecticut defends his Connecticut Junior Amateur title next week at Watertown GC. A qualifying round of stroke play is Monday. Match play is Tuesday through Thursday.